Jessie
What are some of the causes for the drought?

Thanks for all of you hard work.

Doug

I agree, but I did not get the 9.1 inches of snow here in Baltimore. The last big snow was in 05 when I got almost 16 inches in the northern suburbs, I just wish we could have that again soon.

I do believe you hit the nail on the head with this article. I have lived here in roanoke all my life and I can remember it snowing it least twice a month some winters and I even have some home videos from back when I was 3 or 4 years old and the snow was deeper than I was tall but now everytime we have a chance of snow or a snowstorm gets near us it never materializes or we get a pathetic dusting or 1 inch accumulation. It's either the storm goes to far east or too far west, south , or north . or it doesn't make it over the mountains or it's just a little to warm for snow. Up until the storm that hit roanoke a couple of weeks ago we had not had any snow except for a dusting back in november. so from the offical start to the offical end of winter we actually had almost no snow! Although I would say that even though our offical recorded snow accumulation for that storm was about 3 inches i was thoroughly impressed with that storm because there were places in the city that got any were from the offical recorded snow accumulation of 3 inches to 5 inches were I live to 7-9 inches in more western parts of the city. this storm was also the first time in a long time that I have seen thunder and blowing snow at the same time.hopefully we will get more snow in the years to come!!!

Muffy: State College is in Pennsylvania. It is the home of Penn State. Kind of unbelieveable you've never heard of it; regardless, a simple google search should have cleared that big mystery up for you.

FROM JESSE: Sorry folks, I sometimes forget that people don't know where AccuWeather HQ is located. We are in the geographical center of Pennsylvania.

I would like to know how you have Philly at 22.8 this year.

FROM JESSE: That question would be best directed to your local NWS office in Philly, who provides the data.

it realy stinks we didn't get much snow. but i AM THANFUL FOR WHAT WE got. its better than nothing.

Jesse - Thanks for that info. Another interesting stat would a comparison in the same areas when snowfall was greater than 6". I'm guessing the results would show a lesser frequency of such snowfall events.

Jesse, I'm glad that somebody has noticed our huge drought of snow and rain for that matter here in Roanoke, VA. I enjoy reading your blogs. You are right, the weather is always interesting even if your not getting precipitation.We are heading for a serious drought if we do not receive a good amount of precipitation this spring.

Hey, Jesse - Really like all the work you put into this and how you present it. But you know what, I have never heard of a city called State College! Every, every, state has a university called State but you don't give a clue which of the 50 states this particular State College is in!

The Snow accumulation map from October until now is very incorrect for the Southampton Area of VA. It completely excludes the 2-3 inches we got with the surprise November clipper.

Dates It Snowed & Accumulations:

October 28th, 2008 - Mix
November 18th, 2008 - 0.00inches
November 22nd, 2008 - 2.5 inches
January 20th, 2009 - 0.02 inches
March 2nd, 2009 - 2, possibly 3 inches.

So that .2 that's in the vicinity of Isle of Wight County/Southampton County should actually be more like a .5....

No complaints here. We are winning the war against snow. Now if only something could be done about freezing rain and the cold, the Axis of Evil would be eradicated!

So, what's the best general explanation for the snow drought of the last twenty years in the mid-atlantic? Is it a) warming of the winters for whatever reason, or b) lack of coastal storms in winter?

Jesse, it's not as bad as it looks for Richmond, VA. The past 4 years we've had about 1 inch. This year it was looking like the same until we got hammered with 11 inches just west of Richmond on Mar. 1-2. That was the most we've had since maybe 93-94? Pretty sweet!

Jesse
Not all of Philadelphia saw the 22 inches of snow. I very thin ban of snow fell over the airport and south philly the first big swow for the area. those areas got over 8 inches of snow. The rest of us received about 2 inches that first round. I my back yard we had a covering In December the next snow was a trace the the next snow (the airport got the 8 inches) we had about 2 inches and this last storm we had 8 inches so in my book merchantville New Jersey just cross the bridge from Philly saw about 10 inches total all winter... I haven't believed the philly airports totals in years they are never the same as the measurements we take in our own back yard. As far as I see it Merchantvill New jersey had 10 inches of snow this winter.. Barbara

Hi, Jesse!

AS a snow lover, I try not to gripe and complain too much, but I think what you have observed istrue. Here in the Mid-Ohio valley, we had one snow episode of 3 to 5 inches this winter, with some dustings to an inch or so otherwise. The last really memorable storm was in February 2003.

Having said this (and as I shared on Henry and Elliot's blogs recently) we had a storm during the first weekend of April in 1984 that brought a good 12 inches of snow at our house, 12 miles out in the country, east of Parkersburg, WV. Could it happen again? Not likely, but I've noticed something lurking around April 5th or 6th!

Gary Yoak
Vienna, WV

Good work on compiling the data. However this is another case of stats not telling the entire story. If someone were to look at two of the graphs (1) Normal v So Far and (2) Winners v Losers for Philadelphia, they would think that we had a slightly above average snow total this season. But that would not be correct. Take away the two 'major' snow events, and we are below average for the season.

Also, snow (and rain) data can be skewed as to where the official reporting station is located. Last week it was reported in the Phila Inquirer that the official reporting station for NWS in Phila was changed from the airport (which I always found odd because who lives at the airport) to a trained observer's home in National Park, NJ which is across the river and 3 miles from the airport. ( http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20090320_Measuring_change_boosts_airport_snow_total.html ) What happens if the guy isn't home during a snow event and can't use his official NWS ruler to go measure snow in his backyard? Or if his backyard is located in a heavier snow band than the city proper? Are those variables taken into consideration when compiling official data?

It would be very interesting to compare the drought in the 30's that caused the dust bowl. How did that drought develop over time? History repeats itself!!!

This has been a crazy March here In Garrett County Md, minimal snow and that was the first couple days and fairly dry. Although most snowfall totals for the mountain shere through West Virginia are in the 120-180" range you wouldn;t think it would be dry, but alot of that snow was lake affect and upslope with minimal moisture content, few systems with a good amount of moisture have crossed as per normal. Getting some good rain at the moment and definately need it to continue. Now when you downslope just east of the Ridges here, horribly dry, not only have they not had many systems they don't get any upslope and I can't remember a March where the ground is to the point it is at right now.

Jesse, I have always enjoyed your posts because of the effort you put in researching and verifying real data. I moved to Roanoke from the deep south in the summer of 2004 to see more snow, and as your data shows, it's not quite worked yet.

jesse it actually was march 1st not february 1st, neat article i live in northern rhode island and had about 60 inches so far, it has been our best winter since 2005, but i would feel the pain if i was in the mid atlantic being a snow lover, keep up the good work and dont get blogititis.lol.